Top Sections Report

The Top Sections Report is accessed by clicking the Top Sections card from the Admin Dashboard. By default, the Top Sections Report lists all sections in all CURRENTLY ACTIVE term(s), with the most engaged sections shown first. Use the Active Terms | Inactive Terms links to change which terms' sections are shown.

The initial view of the report is sorted by Engagement / Student (Engagement Activity by Active Students) column so that the sections with the most per-student activity are listed first. The ranking is based on total student video views and polling slide responses, as well as other student activity in the section, averaged out across the number of active students in the section. Further definitions for the columns are listed below the figure.

Click the column header to sort the report by any single column. To nest your sorting selections, press the Shift key while clicking the column header. For example, to sort the report by course and then section, click the Course column header, then press the Shift key and select the Section header.

Click Inactive Terms to view section engagement data for terms that have expired. Data included in the report goes as far back as August 2017.

To filter the report data shown, hover your mouse over any column to expose the Filter button, shown in the below figure, to filter the report by a column's data.

The filter options include boolean and partial filter parameters such as contains, equals, does not equal, starts with, and ends with, as shown in the below figure.

Column filters can be layered. If you filter the report based on one column's data, the next filter you apply will further limit the report based on both filters' criteria.

To clear any sorting or filters placed on the report, click Clear All, located in the top left of the report, directly above the Courses column.

To export the report to a CSV file, click EXPORT.

The exported CSV file contains 22 columns as opposed to the 11 shown in the UI and described below. In addition, the exported file reflects the sections shown currently on the screen. If you have applied filters, or are viewing Inactive Terms, those are the sections that will appear in your export. If you wish to export ALL section data for either the currently Active or Inactive Terms, click Clear All to clear your filters prior to exporting.

NOTE: If a student is unenrolled from a section, their data is removed from this report; if a student is deleted but left enrolled in the section, their data remains in this report until they are removed from the section.

Columns shown on the report are as follows (along with definitions of the data/calculations where applicable):

Course - The Course Code for the course for the section.

Section - The Section Number for the section.

Term - Name of the term in which the section occurs.

Instructor - Name of the Primary Instructor for the section, if one is identified.

Registered Students - Total number of students enrolled in the section.(Note: When a student is removed/unenrolled from a section, their data is also removed from this report; if not unenrolled first, deleted students' data remains until they are removed from the section.)

Active Students - Number of students in the section that have completed at least one of the Student Activities used for engagement calculations: video view, slide deck view, activity slide response, Q&A entry, entered a note, or marked a slide as confusing.(Note: This is different than the definition of "Active" student seen by instructors, which simply indicates that the enrolled student is a registered Echo360 user as opposed to an "Invited" or "Inactive" user.)

Video Views - Total number of video views for the section.

Engagement Activities / Student - Total count of Student engagement activities in the section divided by the number of Active Students (defined below). Student engagement activities include video views and polling (activity slide) responses plus other Student activity in the section, including: slide deck views, Q&A entries (questions and responses), slide confusion marks, and Note entries.(Note: The Note entries used here are the number of distinct notes entered, which is different than the Notes word count shown to Instructors in the Analytics tab for a section.)

Video Views / Student - Total number of video views divided by the number of Active Students (defined above).

Student Activities / Student - Total count of Student activity in the section, divided by the number of Active Students in the section. Student Activities are defined as: slide deck views, Q&A entries (questions and responses), slide confusion marks, and Note entries (distinct notes).

Polling Response / Student - Total number of polling (activity) slide responses divided by the number of Active Students.

A word about student engagement and student activity terminology

We know that using the same terms for slightly different things across the platform can be confusing. This is especially true for users who may occupy multiple roles in the system. For example, Instructors may refer to the Quiz slides they can add to a slide deck as Activity slides or Polling slides, and Administrators may refer to them only as Polling slides. The term "Engagement" has a very specific meaning and definition (and calculation) for Instructors that is different than the Engagement calculation and definition that are shown here for Administrators.

We are working towards making the platform more semantically aligned across roles and across interface elements. However until that process is complete, here are the definitions for the terms used in the Top Sections report (also noted in the column definitions above).

Video Views: A total count of the number of times each video in the section has been viewed. Students can rack up multiple views for each video if they enter the classroom multiple times and click Play.

Polling Responses: This is a total count of student responses to polling slides, also called Activity Slides. Instructors can create interactive slides of different types that request responses from students. These responses are counted as Polling Responses.

Student Activities: This includes all the things a student can do to interact with classroom/section materials OTHER than video views and polling responses. This includes: slide deck views, Q&A entries (both questions and responses), slide confusion marks, and Note entries. Keep in mind that "Notes" here is each distinct note and is different than the "Notes Word Count" provided to instructors.

Engagement Activities: These are ALL the things students can do in a section to indicate they are actively interacting with the materials. These include all three of the items defined above: video views (as a total count), polling responses, and student activities/actions.

The reason video views and polling responses are calculated and shown separately from other Student Activities is that many Admins (and Instructors) find these two metrics to be primarily indicative of student use within the platform. Not all students take notes inside the Echo360 interface; not all students engage in Q&A/discussions; not all students cite confusion inside the Echo360 interface. But most students using the platform are viewing the classroom captures and other posted video materials. And most students are responding to interactive question slides when provided by instructors.